My time in Luang Prabang (pronounced Loo-ong Prah-bong) was quite long – perhaps a bit TOO long with the amount of stuff that there was to do there (I think that three nights would be the perfect amount of time). It was still nice to have a place to relax and not feel guilty about it. Luang Prabang is another UNESCO World Heritage City, and it has a sort of charm to it. However, one of the things that I definitely noticed was the amount of stray cats and dogs that didn’t seem to be cared for. There are stray cats and dogs everywhere, but most of them still seem to be taken care of (especially in Pai – many dogs are almost fat!). Here, many of the dogs (and cats especially) looked so sad, with really rough fur/skin, and they definitely didn’t look healthy. It was difficult to see, especially when they’d come up to your table while eating at a restaurant.
The tuk-tuk arrived in the “city” centre (which still has a village-like feel) just after 5pm, and I 
realised that I still had a ten-minute walk to my hostel. This was also the time when all of the vendors started setting up their stalls for the night market, so I had to weave back and forth around tents being set up, and be careful not to step on the mats that they had placed on the cement.
I was staying at Smile Hostel, which cost 70,000 kip ($11.52AUD) per night for a 6-bed female dorm. This was a bit more expensive than some of the other places in the city, but it had the best hostel breakfast that I’ve had on this trip (they have a menu of scrambled or fried eggs or an omelette or banana pancakes with ham or sausage, and fruit). Plus it had the cutest puppy!
I got to my hostel and reorganised for a bit before going to Nang Tao for dinner. It was an extremely quiet family-run restaurant, and when I saw Khao Soi, I didn’t hesitate to order it. However, I quickly realised that Lao Khao Soi is very different from Thai Khao Soi, and is made from minced meat, noodles, and vegetables in a broth (almost like a hamburger soup).
That and a coke only cost me 20,000 kip ($3.22). I walked around the night market, which I was 
excited about because I had read that the prices in Laos are a lot cheaper than Thailand because Thailand gets a lot of its products FROM Laos. However, I found that most of the things (not only at the night market, but also entrance into temples, transport, accommodation, etc.) were a lot more pricey than they were in Thailand.
On Tuesday, I was planning to go to Kuang Si Waterfall, which is about a 45-60 minute ride 
outside of the city. The hostel offers three minivans per day, but the van will only stay for 2.5 hours and I didn’t want to be rushed. Luckily at breakfast, I overheard some other people planning to go so I said I would join them in getting a tuktuk. We walked down the road and were able to talk one of the drivers down to 180,000 kip (so 36,000 kip/$5.80 each), and we convinced him to stay for four hours. The scenery on the way there was beautiful! Once we got there, I picked up some food at a street vendor and then made my way inside, and we had to pay 20000 kip ($3.22) each to enter.
In order to get to the waterfall, we actually had to walk through an enclosure housing a bunch of 
bears. These bears are part of the “Free the Bears” project, which saved the bears before they reached the bear bile farms. Bear bile is used in traditional medicine for liver and gallbladder problems, but bears live horrible lives on these farms, confined in small cages, where their bile is constantly extracted either by ‘free drip,’ where a hole is put in their gallbladders or they have a permanent catheter inserted. Obviously, it’s better for them to be in the wild but this protects them from the poachers, and is run by the Government of Laos.
We kept walking along the path and eventually came upon a pristine blue pool, with a few small waterfalls going into it. As we kept walking higher and higher, the amount of waterfalls seemed to multiply. We then made it up to the top, where there was a massive waterfall! It really was quite stunning, especially with the surrounding blue in the pools (which was very inviting to swim in!).
We all ate some lunch and then decided to climb up to the top of the waterfall, where we could walk over it and come back down the other side. There honestly wasn’t much to see at the top – just a viewpoint and a sign that said there was a cave 3km away.
We decided to make our way down the other side, but it was a lot steeper and difficult to go down. When we had gotten about halfway down, someone had walked by and asked if we had went to the cave and we said no. She said that it was really nice and worth walking to. I was already fine with going back down to enjoy the waterfalls, but the other four decided to climb back up so that 
they could go to the cave. I found one of the pools to swim in, set all of my stuff in an area that I could watch, and had to walk along the top of a set of falls in order to get to a quiet pool on the other side. Some people were nonchalantly running across the top of the waterfall, and it was freaking me out! I definitely took it slow and made my way to the other side, where I sat for two hours and people-watched. The
water was so cold so I didn’t actually swim in it – I just sat in it with my feet in the pool. The group said that they would be quick and come back down as soon as they could so I was surprised that at 3:10, they still hadn’t come down since we were supposed to be back at the tuktuk at 3:30. However, I figured that maybe I just missed them when they walked by. I got out, changed, walked back to the tuktuk, and made it there RIGHT at 3:30. However, it was only the driver who was there. I sat in the back and we waited for about 15 minutes before everyone else showed up. They said that they left the cave at 2:30 and were going as fast as they could, so it took them over an hour to get back. By the time we got back to our hostel, it was just before 5pm so I showered and then all of the people from the slowboat arrived. I went for dinner with a girl from Russia, where we split a couple of dishes and paid 27,000 kip ($4.35) each. We then walked around the night market and headed back to the hostel.
On Wednesday, I decided to explore the city (which can take less than two hours), so it really ended up just being a day of walking around, sitting in cafes,
and relaxing. Many of the temples ended up charging 20000 kip ($3.22) to enter, which was a bit too pricey for me and because I’ve already been in many temples, I decided to just look at them from a distance. Luang Prabang also has a few bamboo bridges, which are only there during dry season (during wet season, they get washed away and then they have to build new ones), and they charged 10000 kip to cross (which goes towards building the new one). Again, I decided to
just enjoy it from a distance. It’s not that much money, but paying for little things multiple times adds up quick!
I was walking back towards the hostel right before sunset and noticed all of the people climbing up Mount Phousi to get the perfect few. I decided to walk to the riverside instead, get a smoothie, and enjoy it from there.
I went to @Phonheuang Cafe later that night for dinner, ordered fried sukiyaki (which is a noodle dish), and it ended up being the best meal that I had in Luang Prabang.
And only for 25000 kip ($4.03)! While I was sitting there, a German guy (Mike) ended up sitting at the table next to me so we ended up talking until after the restaurant closed.
On Thursday morning, I had booked a half-day tour at the Living Land Rice Farm. This tour was definitely the most expensive tour that I’ve paid for at 344000 kip ($55.38), but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t go, and it had amazing reviews so I knew I’d enjoy it. The project was started almost 15 years ago by some local families who put their land together to grow rice and organic vegetables. They support
community projects and offer free English classes to village children, as well as offer their land to the northern college for students who need to do practical work for agriculture school, so I knew that I’d be supporting a good cause. They picked me up at my hostel at 8am and drove me to the farm, which was only about 15 minutes away. It was absolutely beautiful!
Laos has surprised me with how lush and green it’s been everywhere. There were only five of us in the group – two sisters from the States, and two guys from the UK. We started by being shown how to pick out the good grains of dried rice (to later plant). Our guide added salt in some water, and then took out any of the grains that were floating because it meant that they were empty.
He then took us out to the mud, where we were told to take off our shoes and walk through the fields barefoot. He showed how to make a mound of mud to sprinkle the rice grains on, and eventually they’d start to grow. We had to rip out some of the already grown ones (roots and all) to replant in the fields.
However, before we replanted them, we got to meet Rudolphe, their buffalo, who had to walk through the muddy water to plow through the mud in order to mix it around.
Then, we were ready to replant the sprouts! We took four or five at a time and had to stick them into the mud about a foot away from each other. The guide said that they’d be submerged in water for ten days, and then they’d drain and block the water for ten days.
We then went to another field where the rice was fully grown, and had to use a sickle to cut and tie a bundle. Then we’d have to lay the bundles to dry for a few days.
After the bundles were dry, we had to thresh the bundles (hit them against a piece of wood) in order to loosen all of the grains. Then, we’d take a fan and swing it over the pile to get rid of all of the empty grains.
He then showed us the three main carrying methods used by different tribes, who would have to carry the rice many kilometres.
We were shown how the rice had to be hammered by using a huge device, and then sorted to get rid of the rest of the bad rice. The sorting is a woman’s job and if a woman couldn’t do it correctly, she couldn’t get married.
That definitely put the pressure on! The rice could then be further ground into a flour to make noodles. Then he showed us how the 
rice was steamed for 15 minutes, flipped, and steamed for another 15 minutes in order to make sticky rice, which is a staple in the Lao culture.
Between all of these steps, we were also able to find time to watch how weaving is done using bamboo (the men were so friendly and kept making us rings and bracelets!), how to use manual bellows to feed a fire, which would heat some metal so it could be hammered into a sickle or other tool, and then the two guys from the UK used another tool to squeeze all of the juice out of some sugarcane so that we could all enjoy a couple glasses of sugarcane juice. It was actually incredible how much liquid was able to come out of a bundle of sugarcane!
We were shown the nursery and garden, which had a huge assortment of vegetables. Then at the very end, we were able to 
enjoy multiple rice products! Everyone eats with their hands, so we took the sticky rice, squished it in little balls, and dipped it in a Chili paste/buffalo skin mixture (yes, you read that right!) – it was actually so delicious! I ended up being the only one who finished all of my rice. We also tried some rice wine, which was extremely strong!
It really was such a good experience and I’m so glad I did it! I went back to the hostel to relax for a couple of hours but then I was starving so I walked to a French cafe that a couple of the girls recommended to me. Although it was quite expensive, it was still nice to have some French pastries (there were so many French restaurants in Luang Prabang since it was part of the French Colonial Empire years ago – also, the amount of French people who travel Thailand and Laos is insane! I could hear French everywhere I went).
I went back to the hostel to visit for a bit, and then met up with Mike for dinner. We then went to the night market, where he bought so much stuff. This made it more tempting for me to buy things (I’ve been so good with convincing myself not to buy anything!). I stayed strong though, and didn’t get anything. I went back to my hostel and Abbey had just arrived (not by coincidence this time – I told her where I was staying), so we chatted for a bit before I went to bed.
On Friday morning, I was leaving for my next destination at 8:30. However, I decided to wake up to watch the Buddhist Alms Giving Ceremony (tak bat). It has occurred in many of the past cities that I’ve been in, but it starts before the sun rises (around 5:30), so I’ve been too lazy to wake up for it. However, I was told that they come on the street right in front of the hostel at 6am so this time, I didn’t really have an excuse. I tried to set an
alarm a couple of days earlier and just rolled over and went back to bed, so I was determined to get up this time, especially since two other girls in my room decided to go as well. Tak bat is a daily ceremony when the monks go and collect food (alms) from the locals, who usually give sticky rice or fresh fruit to make merit. The monks go down the streets in meditation and collect this food for their one meal per day, and don’t have a kitchen so
the food is already prepared. We decided not to take part in giving food (because we were told that they expect the food to be made with love at home and not just bought from a street vendor) and instead just watch. I’ve also read that this ceremony has become such a big spectacle for tourists, and many of the locals have refused to take part anymore because they feel like the sanctity of the ceremony is ruined. A lot of people take pictures with flash
and then chase after the monks in order to get a good picture. We weren’t on the main street so it was pretty quiet where we were, but I was surprised as to how many flashes I saw in the distance, as well as how many people were following the monks when the ceremony was over. It was interesting seeing how the locals (and some tourists) just took a pinch of rice to give to each monk (there were hundreds of them) – I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be like that.
It was a very quiet and peaceful ceremony to watch, even though I still felt guilty for doing so. As interesting as it is to see other cultures and religions, I guess I wouldn’t go around taking pictures of people doing communion in church (maybe cause I grew up with it), so it’s hard not to feel disrespectful by being there. It still was a beautiful sight to see, with a 
sea of orange robes coming down the street. After about 20 minutes, we went back into the hostel and I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep so instead, we all just made coffee and visited until about 7:30. I went upstairs to pack up my stuff, came back down for breakfast, and then my bus came early so I rushed off to head to Nong Khiaw. Love always
On the morning of my trip into Laos, I got up at 4:45 (after having less than 5 hours of sleep), packed up my stuff, and went downstairs for breakfast. I only took two pancakes and two bananas, but as soon as I took the first bite of a pancake, I started heating up and felt like I was going to throw up again. I kept forcing myself to eat because I didn’t want to be rude, especially since the hostel owner had gotten up at 5am to prepare everything for me. It was definitely a struggle, and I had to keep taking bites with coffee just so that I could get it down. We left at about 5:50 and the hostel owner drove me to the bus station so that I could catch the first bus to the Laos border at 6am. She gave me a big hug and sent me on my way – she was so sweet! I got on the bus, which only had one empty seat left (it seemed like there was a big group of people travelling together), and paid 100 baht ($4.36) for my trip to the border (just outside the city of Chiang Khong). The process was actually a lot more straightforward than what I was expecting! The price of that bus is actually 65 baht per person, but then they normally drop us off at a tuk tuk station and we would have to pay for a tuk tuk to go the rest of the way to the border. Because there were so many of us in the bus, they just charged us 100 baht each and took us straight to the border, which saved us one step. When we got to the border, we had to use our departure cards to leave Thailand (which they give you with your arrival card when you get INTO Thailand, so it’s important to keep it safe). Lucky for me, most of the people had lost their departure cards and therefore had to fill out new ones, so I was able to go straight to custom control without a lineup. Then I had to pay to take a bus across Friendship Bridge, which would bring me to Laos customs. The ticket only cost 25 baht ($1.09) and then the stand also exchanged Thai baht into Lao kip. However, normally the ticket is 20 baht but because it was before 8:30 (and therefore outside of office hours), I had to pay 5 baht extra.
us to pay for the visa in order to get our passports back. As a Canadian citizen, I had to pay $43 US ($58.86AUD) so I gave $103 and got three 20s back. I then took those 20s to the currency exchange so that I could get more kip, because I realised that I’d use all of the kip I had to buy my boat ticket. I stood in line, finally got to the front, and she said that she wouldn’t take my money because there was a stamp on it. I was so mad because I had already stood in line for awhile, plus I was tired and still feeling sick, and I tried to explain that I had gotten the bills from the visa booth. She told me to go back there and return when I had new 20’s. Livid, I walked back to the visa counter and cut in front of the extremely long line to explain, and the man easily exchanged my bills. I went back to the currency exchange, waited in line once again, and she REALLY examined the bills. She pointed out a crease down the middle of one of the bills and said that she’d only exchange two of the 20s. Whatever. I couldn’t be bothered anymore – I was too sick and too tired to care (Note: the currency exchange in Luang Prabang exchanged this bill easily.. this lady was just being difficult). I got my money and went to the ticket booth to buy my ticket for the slow boat. There are two options to get into Laos – the first is to take a bus and the second is to take a slow boat (which is two 7-8 hour days). I had been trying to book a ticket beforehand so that I’d have proof that I’d be leaving Thailand but when I asked a company about it (Mekong Smile Cruises), they quoted me $700USD because as of March 1st, it was “low season” so if 6 people joined, they’d lower the price down to $130 per person! I said absolutely not, and decided that I’d just play it by ear when I got there. I’m extremely glad I made that decision as well because I was able to do it A LOT cheaper on my own (about $28USD!). I had read that the boat left at either 10:30 or 11, but was surprised to see the sign that said it left at 11:30.
would cost 210,000 kip ($34.57). However, even though the signs said 210,000, they charged me 270,000 kip ($43.47) to include the tuktuk. I knew that this was a legitimate charge because I read that you have to take a tuktuk to the Thailand border, a bus across the bridge to the Laos border, then a tuktuk to the slowboat. I paid and then they gave me a badge to wear around my neck, which I would later exchange for the boat ticket.
only opportunity to buy food and water for the day (luck was on my side!). They also said that we could book accommodation and buy SIM cards if we wanted. It almost seemed like a tour company because they were only selling rooms for one type of accommodation, so I went on my phone and found my own place. Before my trip, I was told not to book anything in advance and instead walk past all of the people when I arrive, tell them I have a reservation, and then just show up to a hotel because they would charge you a lot less. However, I still wasn’t feeling very well and just wanted a piece of mind that I’d have a room with a bed and bathroom when I arrived. I honestly wasn’t even sure if spending 7.5 hours on a boat that day was a smart idea, but I just wanted to get to Luang Prabang because I’d have four nights there and could find a clinic if I needed. I booked a room on Agoda at BKC Villa 2 with my own queen-sized bed, a river view, and my own bathroom for a whopping $17.90, which was cheaper than some of the dorm rooms I stayed at in Taiwan, and almost half the amount of staying in a dorm room in Australia! After booking my room, I found some water and soup crackers for 20,000 kip ($3.22), as well as a sandwich for 15,000 kip ($2.42) in hopes that I’d eventually want to eat it. Just before 10:30, they drove us to the slow boat, where we had to wait to get our tickets, and then could board the boat. They said that day, we only needed to SHOW our tickets to the driver because we’d need to keep the tickets for tomorrow or we wouldn’t be able to get onto that boat.
up, with a set of three seats on both sides. They were actually wooden benches (which looked like pews) with cushions on each spot, and papers with numbers on each cushion. We all had numbers on our tickets, and I was assigned to a middle seat but luckily a couple wanted to sit together, so I traded and got an aisle seat.
bunch of kids crowded around and kept pointing to my bag. I wasn’t sure if they were asking for food, or offering to carry it for me, but I just kept saying no since it was the only water and food I had. I saw a sign for my accommodation held by a boy who wouldn’t have been older than 12, so he walked me to where the guesthouse was, which was only about three minutes up the hill and was likely the first hotel on the road, which was nice! They didn’t even ask for my passport or my name when I got there – they just gave me a key and pointed to my room.
Luang Prabang until about 4pm, so we were in for another long boat ride. I got to the boat at about 10 minutes to 9 and by that time, half of the boat was already full. The full part of the boat had tables, so all that was left in the back of the boat were seats that literally seemed to be taken out of multiple cars (and therefore reclined!), so they were set up two by two down the middle of the boat and along the sides. I grabbed one of the seats along the side right before the huge 10+ group of British people (who spent the entire boatride drinking the day before) came and took all of the remaining seats. Unlike the day before, there wasn’t any room to spread out so I was confined to my one seat and the girl beside me seemed to take not only her own part of the seat but also part of mine (for no reason other than not seeming to realise that there were two separate seats). Anyway, I just put my earphones in to tune everything out, and kept myself busy for the next seven hours.
Again, it went by quite fast and we arrived in Luang Prabang at about 4:30pm. They dropped us off quite far out of the city so we had to grab all of our stuff, go up a whole bunch of stairs to get to the road, and pay 20,000 kip ($3.22) per person to get a tuktuk to the city centre, which was about 10 kilometres away. Luckily, I got on one of the first ones (since the majority of the people who were on the boat seemed to be travelling with tour groups, so they had to get sorted out first) so I arrived in the city centre just after 5pm. However, I’ll save Luang Prabang for another post. Love always
Chiang Rai was when I finally got sick with something… I’m still not exactly sure what it was, but may have been a combination of carsickness, food poisoning, and overheating. Once again, I booked my bus tickets on 12Go, and I had to go back through Chiang Mai in order to get to Chiang Rai. I had read reviews that some people’s first bus ended up arriving late so they missed their second bus. Therefore, I wanted to leave ample time between my two buses so that it wouldn’t end up happening to me. I booked my first bus for 8am, which was scheduled to arrive at noon, and cost 215 baht ($10.05). I booked my second bus for 2:15pm to arrive in Chiang Rai at 5:50pm for 289 baht ($12.61AUD). On Friday morning, I got up at 6:30, got ready, packed up, took a quick look at the sunrise, and started my walk to the bus station so that I could get there 30 minutes in advance.
Anyway, I took the advice of some people and didn’t eat anything beforehand because apparently it makes you more sick on the car ride. Another girl had said that she bought motion sickness tablets halfway through her trip, and they ended up not working and just made her drowsy. I had bought motion sickness tablets, but I didn’t want to risk feeling drowsy all day so I decided not to take them. Maybe it was the wrong choice though… We started the journey back to Chiang Mai and once again, I was in the back seat, leaning all over the place. At one point, my bag of food came loose from under the seat so many people (including myself) just spent the next 20 minutes watching my bag roll from the left side of the vehicle to the right side of the vehicle and back. At the halfway point, I decided to get some coffee but still decided not to get food. I wasn’t feeling too great and was now understanding how people who get carsick feel. We got to Chiang Mai an hour earlier than scheduled (at 11), so I went to check in to my next bus and asked if it would be possible to get on an earlier bus, but the lady said that they were all full. Therefore, I had about three hours to kill. I found a restaurant called Black Coffee Smile, and decided I needed to force myself to eat something. I still wasn’t feeling well, but I hadn’t eaten all day and by that time, it was 11:30. I ordered a cashew chicken with rice and a coke.
each morning to make breakfast for everyone who’d be travelling to Laos. I also really liked the set-up of this hostel because there was a huge shared shower and toilet room (rather than having only 2 or 3 separate bathrooms), and even though the room was 16 beds, each bed got their own pod so you still got lots of privacy. The hostel owner asked if I wanted to go to the night market and said we’d leave at 6:50 (in a half hour). I said sure but as I was preparing my things, I started questioning whether it would be a good idea for me to go. I felt like I’d feel better if I threw up, but I really hate that feeling so I didn’t let it happen. I went to the night market with a girl from Finland and a guy from kind of all over the place. The hostel owner stopped at the clock tower, which does a light show for 7 minutes every night at 7pm.
dollars, and THEN exchange the dollars into Laos Kip when I got to Laos because I’d lose less money that way. This actually surprised me because I assumed I’d lose less money by changing baht into kip directly. Paulina and I walked about 15 minutes to a currency exchange place so I could change all of my money, and then we continued another 20 minutes to the bus station. We found a big sign that said ‘White Temple’ and saw that the bus was supposed to leave in 4 minutes (good timing!). We got on, paid 20 baht (88 cents), and arrived at the White Temple about 20 minutes later. We had to pay 50 baht ($2.18) for entry, and it was extremely crowded when we got there!! Online, there are so many pictures of people alone with no one around, and I have no idea how they would have managed to get a picture like that unless it was Photoshopped. The White Temple is extremely unique because the person who designed it added a bunch of random features, such as heads hanging from trees, or a bunch of hands coming out of the ground.
glad that I was with Paulina because she had read that there were cartoons inside (and I totally wouldn’t have noticed them if I wasn’t with her). As soon as you walk in (almost behind the doors), there are random characters added into the painting such as Spiderman, Harry Potter, Angry Birds, Michael Jackson, Sailor Moon, etc. It was really entertaining trying to find them all! We walked around the grounds for awhile and then decided to go back into the city to get lunch.
time we decided to leave, I think both of us were fine with just finding another cafe to relax in. We found another cafe, and stayed for another two hours there. This was another situation where we clicked so well, and talked about anything and everything – we had so many conversations that I’ve never had on my entire trip (many conversations tend to get quite repetitive). We decided to walk back to the hostel to reorganise so that we could come back for the Saturday night market, which was supposed to be much larger than the regular night market (it went for 2 kilometres!). The hostel owner drove us (me, Paulina, and a guy from the US) to the night market at 7pm. We walked along the length of the market, and then walked back to where the “food court” was. In the middle of the food court was a dance floor, where we were surprised to see so many people all doing the same dance moves. However, most people didn’t
really look like they were enjoying themselves and were doing the moves robotically, so it was more comical to watch. We walked around looking for somewhere to eat, but I wanted to make sure I could get something that I could actually SEE being cooked. The problem with many of these food stalls is that most of the stuff is just sitting there – the sushi, the cooked sausages and skewers, the noodle dishes, and I can’t help but question how long it had been sitting there. Finally, we found a stand that was actually cooking their food, and their dish was oyster omelette. I’ve read great things about oyster omelette, so I decided that it was finally time to give it a try. However, this oyster omelette was definitely made with mussels, and I’m not sure if there were even any oysters in it. Paulina ordered first, and she got the more-cooked selection. Then I ordered and they gave me some of the less-brown selection. We all found a place to sit in
an area where they had a bunch of mats and small coffee tables, so we took off our shoes to go on the mat and then sat around one of the tables. I tried one of the mussels but it was a bit too chewy for my liking (I’m very picky with my seafood and the way that it’s cooked), so I put them all aside. We sat there for quite awhile and enjoyed people-watching all of the dancers in the middle of the food court. Then at 9, Paulina and I decided to walk back to the hostel because I had to get up at 4:45. However, when we were walking back, I suddenly started overheating and I felt like I was going to throw up again. It was bizarre because I had eaten two meals that day and felt fine, and all of a sudden, that familiar feeling was back. Right before we got to the hostel, Paulina asked if I wanted to go into the grocery store to get some food for tomorrow (because I’d be on a 7.5-hour boat ride with no food) and we stepped in. After 30 seconds, I said I couldn’t stay and I needed to go back to the hostel. We went back so I could sit down, and I was feeling like crap for at least a half hour. I was so close to going to the bathroom so that I could throw up. It was nice that Paulina sat and chatted with me to keep my mind off of everything, and we actually ended up talking until nearly midnight. I felt much better by that point, so I got ready for bed and decided I’d deal with the lack of food the next day. Love always
Going to Pai (pronounced Pie, mmmm) was a bit more of a bumpy ride (literally)… I had booked my return ticket online on 12Go because I heard that the buses filled up fast. My bus wasn’t leaving until 11:30am but I decided to leave the hostel at 9:45 in hopes of catching the bus to the bus station at 10am. The hostel owner in Chiang Mai told me to walk to the second bridge, which would take less than 10 minutes. I saw a bus cross the bridge before 10am, which ended up being the one I should have taken, but I didn’t know at the time. There were a set of seats with a Thai sign right in front of the bridge, so I stood there for awhile before questioning whether I was in the right place. I decided to cross the street of the bridge and then further down the street, I saw a sign that said “Bus Stop.” By that point, I realised that I had missed the 10am bus so I found a spot in the shade to wait for the 10:30 bus. At about 10:25, I saw the bus coming down the bridge so I ran to the stop and waved it down. The trip only cost me 20 baht (87 cents AUD) and took less than ten minutes to get to the station. I checked in because I wasn’t able to print out my ticket and therefore had to get one at the counter. All she did was
just take a piece of paper, write my seat, bus number and time, and tell me to give it to the driver. I decided to find a cafe to get a coffee and then stopped at the 7-Eleven to grab some snacks/breakfast for my 3-hour busride. My bus cost me 215 baht ($10.05) each way, which was a bit more than the 200 baht offered around the city. I got on the bus (which was a 14-passenger van) and I was in the very back. After about 45 minutes, we got off of the main highway and started the twistiest turns I’ve ever experienced. I was warned about this on multiple blogs, but I was NOT expecting the driver to continue doing all of the turns at full speed! We’d lean left to right, back and forth, forward and backward until the driver finally stopped in a small town called Ban Mae Lao, where we got a 20-minute break (thank goodness!). I was trying to decide whether missing breakfast was a good or bad idea because once again, I started to feel a bit car sick. We all got back into the car and had one horrible hour to go. I swear I got nervous every time I heard a plastic bag crinkle because I knew that if someone ended up getting sick in the car, I’d probably be right there with them. I also noticed how the three of us in the back were leaning back and forth much more than the rest of the people in the vehicle, so I definitely wasn’t lucky when it
came to my seating assignment. I arrived in Pai at 2:30 and headed towards my hostel, which was about a 15-20 minute walk outside of the city. Once again, I was questioning why I had chosen a hostel so far away from everything. However, once I arrived, I completely understood why. It was a treehouse-type hostel, with a beautiful common area overlooking the river and hills.
No to Plastic Bags” everywhere (yet they still continue serving their street food in plastic), and I even saw a sign for kombucha. And in Pai, you definitely notice a bit more hippie clothes and a bit more dreadlocks. Thailand definitely knows what they’re doing, so I give them props! I headed back to the hostel and met Marlot, who’s from the Netherlands and is new into her trip. We talked for quite awhile and seemed to click right away. She had just road a motorbike to Pai with a Canadian couple who ended up crashing, and it sounded
pretty traumatising! Even though there are many places that I regret not being able to ride a motorbike (Pai included), I’m still glad that I didn’t start “learning” in Southeast Asia as I’m not sure how well it would have worked out. Marlot was going back into the city but I decided to stay back because I had already done a lot of walking. I ended up passing out by 10:30 that night and had one of the best sleeps!
minimum of 1000 baht/$43.63 if you visit). I would be picked up at the market at 1pm, which was about a 30-minute walk from my hostel. I stopped at a restaurant for lunch called Easy Cafe, which was actually run by a British lady whose husband was Thai, so all of her British friends were there having lunch together at one table. Once I saw French Toast on the menu, I was sold! I got that with a fruit salad and yogurt with honey, as well as a smoothie for 140 baht ($6.11) and it was absolutely delicious!
area for people waiting to go to CNF. The lady reminded us that we’d have to pay a minimum of 1000 baht (I guess they’ve had problems with people not knowing this in the past) and then our ride showed up, which was a pick-up truck. Three people went into the actual truck and then six of us were
crowded around the back – I definitely hadn’t sat in the back of a pick-up truck in ages! The trip to the farm was about 30 minutesand then we met up with four other people so our group was 13 people. We were started with an introduction by Wes, who was actually from the United States but had been working in Thailand for the past 2.5 years in reforestation management. He shared how Thailand’s logging industry ended up booming and within 100 years, they lost 70% of their forests. Then in the 80s, the country suffered a large amount of landslides because there weren’t enough trees holding everything into place. Therefore in 1989, the government banned logging and a whole bunch of loggers and elephants were left without jobs. That was when they moved elephants into the tourism industry, where many
were/are mistreated and used for elephant rides (Note: Elephant backs are NOT made to carry the weight of humans, and elephant rides should never be taken, no matter how nice the picture might look on your Instagram!!). The work of the CNF is to fix what was broken, and one of the main things they do is plant trees. Wes is in charge of deciding where new trees should be planted in Thailand, what combination of trees should be planted together, and making sure the different layers of the forest grow properly (starting with the canopy layer) so that it will be able to sustain itself after a few years. The good thing is that the trees they plant won’t be cut down again since it’s illegal, so their work won’t be for nothing. Their goal is to plant 250,000 trees this year and they hope to reach 1 million trees within the next few years. They also have one elephant that they rescued from the tourism industry, and their goal with any elephants (and tortoises) they have (they usually only have one or two elephants at a time because they’re very expensive to buy) is to eventually release them back into the wild. Apparently there are only 6000 elephants left in Thailand, and 4500 are still in captivity, so they are trying to reintroduce them into the wild one at a time. In order to do this, they have to go through a long process of teaching the elephants how to fend for themselves – how to wash themselves, clean out their eyes, find food, practice self-care, etc. We first went to the tortoise area, where they have two types of endangered species. The turtles were pretty hard to find, as they usually find a shady spot to relax in.
with us, we would let her and if she didn’t, we’d leave her alone. Only two people should be around her at one time (and in our case, we only went one at a time). He said that she was quite hormonal, so we wanted to respect what she wanted and she was only allowed to spend a maximum of 90 minutes with people each day. He also had to remind us that elephants don’t express affection the same way that we do so petting, hugging, kissing, etc. was unnecessary. We would all get a chance to feed her, and then we could watch from a distance. We had to walk through a stream/river to get to where she was and within 30 seconds, she was right there!
gin and tonics) and helped herself to the entire basket of passionfruit. It was quite entertaining to watch – she definitely has a personality! You could see her left side bulging out and sometimes, you could even see it move, which was so cool! Wes said that she normally would eat 200kg of food per day but now that she was pregnant, she was eating about 40kg more. They said that it’ll take three years to ween the baby off of the mother’s milk, and then they can reintroduce them back into the wild (so the process was prolonged a bit due to Kamee being pregnant). Kamee also has two mahouts that are with her 24/7, and who help her learn how to live in the wild.
inspired after my day, and it got me seriously considering other careers because I feel like I would really enjoy being a part of a project similar to this anywhere else in the word. It made me realise that I can use my biology degree in other ways! So I might have to look at that in the future… They dropped us off at the market again and I decided to walk to the White Buddha, which can be seen from all around the city since it’s up in the hills and is supposed to have a great view of the sunset. The walk was about 45-50 minutes but after about a half hour, I was starting the incline up the hill (which I’d have to do for the next 15 minutes) and less than two minutes later, a man stopped beside me on his motorbike, asked if I was going to see the sunset, and told me to hop on. Normally, I’d say no and continue on my way but I really wasn’t looking forward to walking uphill for 15 minutes and THEN having to do a whole bunch of stairs, so I hopped on. Less than 2 minutes later, we were there! I took out my sarong and light cardigan to cover up, and started the stairs up to the Buddha. I’m so glad I accepted the ride because even though my phone said that sunset was at 6:30pm, it definitely started shortly after 6pm so I would have ended up missing it. It was really pretty, especially seeing the entire city below us, and I ended up talking to a couple of girls afterwards for awhile.
I then started the walk back into the city and at 7, I met up with Marlot so that we could get dinner on Walking Street. I had noticed a taco stand the day before and decided I needed to try it. We each got taco bowls for 60 baht ($2.62) but the weird thing about them was that our sauce options were sweet chili, mayonnaise, or spicy ketchup. Marlot was going to a festival at 9pm, so we were walking towards the end of Walking Street when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and it was Abbey, the girl who took the night train with me to Chiang Mai! The three of us checked out a few shops together before Marlot had to leave, and then Abbey and I found a restaurant to get smoothies and catch up on the past few days. It’s nice how seeing a familiar face is such a good feeling, even though we had been strangers less than a week ago! Travelling does that to you
though, and I love it! The restaurant ended up closing so we said our goodbyes (and possibly our see you laters – you never know!) and I headed back to my hostel. I had an early morning to catch the 8am bus, so I had to call it an early night. When I got back to the hostel, I went to grab my towel and then noticed that the EXACT towel was two towels down from what I thought was mine. I then spent a bunch of time questioning which one was mine, and even asked everyone who I could find if they had the same towel (no one did). One of the tags said KMart Australia while one just said KMart, so I took the Australia one and hoped I made the right choice! Hopefully I can wash it soon but until then, I’m backpacking so my expectations are never too high 😛 Love always
It actually felt a bit cold when we got off the train in Chiang Mai (pronounced Chung My) at 7:15 Sunday morning. I had looked up a Grab and it said that it would cost 60 baht to get to my hostel. However, as soon as we stepped outside of the station, there were SO many people trying to get us to take a taxi with them (they must prepare for this moment everyday). Abbey had heard about red taxis being cheap and when approached by one, we asked how much it would be and they said 50 baht per person ($2.18AUD). I decided to come along, and she led us to the red taxi (which was a songthaew), which already had about 8 people in it. We squished in with our bags and they dropped me off first. They missed the turn though, so I still ended up having to walk a bit to get to my hostel. I was staying at Mapping Hostel for 99 baht/night ($4.41) in a 6-bed mixed dorm! The price was so low, but it was also located about a 30-minute walk away from the city centre. However, it was extremely quiet and was on the edge of the river, so it had a really relaxing vibe to it. It even had some tents set up next to the river! I obviously wasn’t able to check in because it was before 8am, so I paid 20 baht (89 cents) for a coffee, and found a place to sit next to the river.
other things to do in Chiang Mai. I found a self-guided walking tour, so I wrote Abbey and we made plans to meet at the front gate at 10:30. We decided to first go for an early lunch since I still hadn’t eaten any breakfast. Many places still weren’t open, but we ended up going to a restaurant called Cooking Love, which was rated really high when I looked up “Cheap Eats Near Me” on Google. We decided to try the Khao Soi, which is a northern Thailand specialty. It’s a yellow curry noodle soup that’s topped with dry (crunchy) noodles, and it was absolutely delicious!
The zodiac signs were really popular here, and they often had all of the animals on the temple grounds. All of the temples were spectacularly shiny, and I couldn’t capture it at all in the pictures, so everyone might just have to go and see them for themselves! We started at the Three King’s Monument, which shows the three men who built Chiang Mai in the late 1200’s. We then headed to Wat Hua Kuang, which was beautifully adorned with gold.
We walked to the White Elephant Gate and Wat Kun Kha Ma (Golden Horse Temple). Then headed to Wat Rajamontean (Dragon Temple), which was another really beautiful and shiny temple.
We sat in the shade for awhile because the heat started getting to us, and then we continued on our way to House of Success, a hotel that was built in 1993 but was vacant for 20 years because it had bad feng shui. It was just opened in 2017 so it is a relatively new building in the city.
By the time we finished our tour, it was 4pm, which was when the Sunday Night Market was supposed to begin. We decided to get another cold drink (they’re vital in this kind of heat!) while we waited for everyone to finish setting up for the market. By this time, both of us were starting to lose energy from our lack of sleep on the overnight train (and likely because we had also been up walking around for over four hours) so I got an iced coffee in hopes that it would wake me up. At 5pm, we decided to check out the Sunday Night Market. It only happens in Chiang Mai once a week and the stalls go down the street for over a kilometre, so there’s lots to see! A lot of it is handmade and local, unlike many of the tacky stalls that you see in many other markets. I quickly started
feeling lightheaded so I got steak on a stick for 50 baht ($2.18) and then just enjoyed looking at all of the unique things to buy.
We walked to the nearby market (Sompet Market) to see some of the spices that we would be using. Nune gave us 20 minutes to look around on our own, and then we headed back to the school. Our first dish that we could make was a noodle dish and I decided to go with the classic Pad Thai (because you can’t NOT make Pad Thai while at a cooking school in Thailand!). This was probably the most difficult dish to make because you had to work quickly so that your noodles and eggs wouldn’t get mushy. We started at the cutting boards, where she would tell the Pad Thai people what to cut up, and do the same for the other two dishes. Then we all went to our own wok and stove, where she first did a demonstration, and then told us what to do step by step.
The last two things we had to make were 1) the curry paste, which would then be used to make 2) the curry. I was going to make a Massaman curry until I tried the Khao Soi the day before, so I decided to make Khao Soi instead. To make Khao Soi, we had to make a red curry paste, so we first had to cut all of the ingredients into tiny pieces and then use a mortar and pestle to mash everything up.
one of the couples were French and didn’t speak a lot of English so I ended up having to translate some stuff for them. Words were easily coming out of my brain that I didn’t even know were still in there! It was reassuring because I had so much difficulty remembering French before, but I think it was because I was always under pressure or felt judged. This way took all of the pressure off, so it was a lot easier. We were given a half hour break so I walked around for a bit. Then we only had two dishes left to make: salad and dessert. We started by making dessert and I chose mango sticky rice. Then we made the salad, which for me was papaya salad. Again, we had to use a mortar and pestle to mash up all of the ingredients. We got to eat the two dishes at the end, but I was so full!
However, finding all of the ingredients might be a different story… I got dropped off at the hostel, did my laundry, and relaxed for a couple hours before walking to a different night market. I went to a restaurant called Kat’s Kitchen, which was completely full and already had a line-up out the front. I only had to wait about ten minutes, and luckily was seated because the line kept getting longer and longer. I ordered a Massaman curry with rice, and a melon smoothie for 115 baht ($5.02). The food was a bit of a wait because all dishes were individually made by Kat, but it was definitely worth the wait! The only thing that I didn’t like about this restaurant was the locals knew how busy it was, so people kept coming to the tables trying to sell things, or giving out flyers.
information centre on the way and they told me I could get a taxi from either Sompet Market or from North Gate and it should cost 50 baht. I walked towards Sompet Market (which was likely about a 40-minute walk total) and when I got there, the guy said that I’d have to wait for other people to join because he wouldn’t take just me. He said that I’d probably have better luck at North Gate, and his friend offered to take me there for 50 baht. Nope, I’m good! “But it’s 2 kilometres, you’re going to walk that whole
way?” Yup, I was planning on it! It was actually only 1 kilometre (15 minutes) away but as usual, they were trying to use scare tactics to try to persuade me to buy. After about five minutes, another red taxi pulled over beside me and I asked for Doi Suthep. She replied 500 baht.. What?! Absolutely not! But then she started saying 50 baht and then 40, and I don’t know how I logically thought that she meant she’d charge that to go to Doi Suthep. It’s probably because she kept saying “Doi Suthep – 40
baht.” So I got in and she ended up dropping me off pretty much across the street, where the North Gate was (I could have easily walked there in less than 10 minutes). I took out 40 baht and she said, “No, 50 baht. Doi Suthep – 40 baht” (even though there’s a sign there that clearly says Doi Suthep – 60 baht). By that point, I was just angry so I took out 50 baht, gave it to her, and went to the sign. There were five people already waiting but they wouldn’t leave until we had 10 people. They were charging 60 baht each way, so 120 baht total ($5.24). (By the way, I know I sound like a Scrooge when I keep saying that I had to pay extra, when it’s really only 50 cents more, but that’s the mentality that you get into while you’re here. Anything more than 100 baht seems too expensive!). After about 10-15 minutes, we had nine people so they said that we could go. We got in the back of the songthaew (with everyone sitting on the side benches) and got on our way. This was the first time in my life where I actually started to feel car sick. There were twists and turns the entire way to the temple, and they didn’t slow down so we were leaning back and forth the whole way up. Looking at everyone’s faces, I think everyone was feeling pretty sick. We got there at 3:30 and the lady said “Come back at 5, and you pay when we get back.” I was still in a bad mood from getting ripped off twice and only getting an hour and a half to explore, which wouldn’t give me enough time to try any of the hiking trails. The devil in me was contemplating not showing up at 5 and likely saving money because I’d only have to pay for the way back. However, I just couldn’t do it (good thing I have a conscience) and I decided I’d just go back at 5. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed with Doi Suthep at all. Maybe it was my already bad mood, but I think it was because I had already seen much nicer temples. I had to pay 30 baht ($1.31) to enter, but it was so loaded with tourists, so I didn’t spend much time there.
5pm to hit. Surprisingly, everyone except one person came back at 5pm (which our driver seemed pretty upset about) but then they found two MORE people so we were even more squished in the back this time. I was towards the front so it wasn’t as bad as sitting in the back, but I still couldn’t believe how they did those turns! I started walking back towards the hostel and found a restaurant called Lucky Too, where I ordered a Khao Soi and banana smoothie for 100 baht ($4.36). This one was alright, but I think the one I
made was better. I then spent quite a bit of time checking out the night market and then went back to my hostel to order my bus to Pai for the next day. There were signs that said 200 baht all over town, including in my hostel, but then when I asked the hostel owner, he said that they don’t do trips anymore. I didn’t really understand why but it sounded like the company that they worked with hadn’t been reliable. He said that I could book it on my own – I’d just have to get to the bus station, so he told me what I’d have to do the next morning. And that’s exactly what I did on Wednesday! Love always
My train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya left on Saturday at 12:55pm, and it only cost me 15 baht (65 cents AUD)! I went to the platform and found a seat in an already hot car. The train ride was only an hour and a half long, but it didn’t have any air-conditioning and we were heading to a city where the “feels like” temperature was 39 degrees. Needless to say, I was sweating like a pig and I was actually scared to get off of my seat because I knew it would be wet. I tried to open the window beside me and couldn’t, then two other people tried to help me and they couldn’t either. Now I know why I was able to find an empty seat so easily… I got to Ayutthaya at 2:30 and was planning to spend the day exploring the temples until my train to Chiang Mai at 7:45pm. I started questioning whether I had left too late when I started talking to another girl who said all of the temples closed at 6pm. Honestly though, I don’t think I could have went any longer with the temperature outside! I found a luggage storage at the station, which was open 24 hours and
only cost 10 baht per bag (44 cents). Ayutthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, was founded in 1350, and the city is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The railway station is quite far from the city centre so I went to the information booth to ask how to get to the temples. The lady said that I could rent a bike, so I asked how long it would take and she said 30 minutes. There was no way I was going to bike 30 minutes in 39-degree weather. I asked how much the tuk-tuks would be and she said at least 200 baht ($8.93). I asked if there was a bus and she said no. She didn’t seem too keen on helping me out so I left. I went on the Grab app and I could get a car for 87 baht ($3.80) and since I didn’t have lunch yet, I asked it to take me to Malakor Cafe & Restaurant. While I was waiting for my Grab driver to come, a songthaew pulled up (a Thai type of bus) so I guess I could have tried one of those if the information booth told me about them. I have a sneaking suspicion that Grab is actually illegal in Ayutthaya because there weren’t many drivers (so I had to wait 10-15 minutes for my ride), and then he sped right by me and parked about 100 metres away. The thing with Grab is it automatically translates for you, so if I write my driver in English, it’ll translate to Thai and if he writes me in Thai, it’ll translate to English. He wrote me and said, “Can you come to me? I’m afraid of 3 wheels,” which I took to mean that he’d get in trouble from the tuk-tuk drivers if they saw me going into his car. Anyway, he dropped me off at the restaurant at about 3:15 so by that point, I was starving. I ordered a shrimp pad Thai with a coke, which cost me 125 baht ($5.45), and it was so good!
The last temple that I wanted to go to (Wat Phra Si Sanphet) was about a 20-30 minute walk away, so I slowly walked through the park, which had a lot of random temples within it. I finally got to the temple at about 5:30 and spent about an hour there watching the sunset and just enjoying the tranquility of it all.
that would be. After about ten minutes, I tried again and thankfully, something came up! However, I still had to wait about 15 minutes for him to arrive. I got him to drop me off at the 7-Eleven across from the station so that I could pick up some snacks and water since I didn’t know what would be available on my 12-hour train ride. I went back to the station, got my bag, and waited for the train to arrive. My train ticket was a bit more expensive and cost me 1266 baht ($52.69), but I guess it was a pretty long trip and got me out of having to pay accommodation for a night. As I was about to get on the train, I met my second Australian of the entire trip: Abbey, from outside of Sydney. She ended up getting the bunk on top of mine. We were in a female berth and everyone else had their curtains closed, so we seemed to be the only ones talking. The set-up of the train was pretty cool though!
A lady came around with a menu and when we tried to order the cheapest thing, she said that they didn’t have anymore. Therefore, we ordered the next cheapest thing, which was a meal with questionable soup, rice, juice, and a muffin for 140 baht ($6.11). The lady set up a little table in the middle of my bed and then Abbey and I had dinner together. After dinner, we talked for awhile and then I got ready for bed. The bed was actually really comfy, however I was constantly rolling back and forth because of the motion of the train. We were to arrive at 7:15, so I set an alarm for 6:45. I’m pretty sure I woke up at least once every hour because of the jerks of the train whenever it would stop and start back up again. At about 6:15am, they made an announcement saying that they needed to flip the beds back into seats, so they asked us all to get out of our beds. I guess I didn’t need an alarm after all! I changed and then went to the bathroom to wash my face and when I came back, my bed was back into two seats.
Well since the last time I wrote, I’ve already went to two counties! I got to the Taipei airport three hours before my flight to Kuala Lumpur (at 1:20pm). Surprisingly when I checked in, they didn’t ask for proof of onward travel. They DID, however, ask me to put my bag on the scale. Uh oh… it was the first time that I’ve been asked to weigh my bag and I knew that I’d definitely be over 7kg – I just didn’t know by how much. I hesitantly placed my big bag on the scale (hiding my handbag behind the counter, which had all of my heavy electronics). 8.5kg…. I was expecting the worst, like having to pay $100 per kilogram and waited to hear how much I’d have to pay. “Okay,” she said, and placed my passport and boarding pass on the counter. What? Really? Okay, I’ll take it! I didn’t have to talk to anyone at custom control (so no new stamp on my passport) – all I had to do was scan my fingerprints before being let through the little gate. Security was also pretty smooth so I got through a lot fast than expected. The first thing I did was convert all of my Taiwanese dollars (except 300 for lunch) into US dollars because I’ve been told that you can’t convert them outside of Taiwan. I then went to find some food, but found out that there were only two restaurants on the other side. How were there no restaurants in an airport? One of the restaurants was high-class (with dishes costing way over 300THB), and the other one was middle-priced (with dishes starting from 180THB). I found a cafe and just got a salad and caramel macchiato for 280THB ($12.45), which was a lot more than I was used to spending on a meal.
my sister while eating my meal and waited to check in. The flight was just over 4 hours so I arrived after 5:30pm. I had to take the bus back into Kuala Lumpur, so I followed the signs to the bus. However when I arrived, there were a whole bunch of bus companies selling tickets around Malaysia. I definitely didn’t recognise this area! I walked around for a bit and finally saw a stand that said KL Sentral, so I bought a ticket for 12 ringgit ($3.92AUD) and waited for the bus. The bus ride was an hour long, and then I had to take the metro to where my hostel was. This time, I was staying at Marquee Guest Houzz (which has now changed its name to ZigZag Travellers Home), and I had to pay 23 ringgit ($7.90) for the night in a 6-bed female dorm. I was pretty hungry since it was after 8pm and I was actually really looking forward to having an Indian meal. Conveniently, my hostel was located in the Central Market so there was an Indian restaurant called Yusoof Dan Zakhir right next door. I ordered butter chicken with garlic naan and a tea tarik (milk tea) for 13.50 ringgit ($4.41), and it was delicious! I love my Asian food, no matter what the cuisine!
My trip back to Taipei went by extremely quick, thanks to the high speed rail ticket that Mike and Sandy had bought for me. Mike dropped me off at the station in Tainan at about 10:30 and my train left at 11:13. I got some coffee and sat down for awhile, and then went to get some snacks at 7-Eleven. Before I went into the shop, I wanted to get reorganised because I didn’t have any free hands to buy anything, so I set my phone on a broken ATM machine, tied my jacket around my waist, and put some random stuff into my bags. I
scanned my ticket to go through the turnstiles, went into the shop to pick up a couple of bakery items, and had five minutes to go to the platform. I was on my way up the escalator and I went to grab my phone. But where was it?! I must have left it on the ATM! I ran up the rest of the escalator, ran back down the next escalator, and went to the man working the turnstiles to ask if I could go back through because I left my phone. He scanned his card, came with me, and luckily my phone was still just sitting there! I grabbed it, he
scanned me back through, and I bolted back to the platform and made it back just in time. So much for a stress-free journey! Mike and Sandy had booked business class for me so I got a massive seat, and they handed out coffee and snacks. I had an empty seat beside me for half of the trip (until Taichung), which was also nice! It was great to experience a seat in business class, as I’m sure it won’t happen again! I arrived in Taipei at 1pm, picked up
some sushi to take with me from the station (for 10TWD/$0.46AUD apiece), and took the metro to my hostel. This time I was staying at Smile Taipei, which is by the Yuanshan station, and it cost me 330TWD ($15.07AUD) per night for an 8-bed female dorm. I arrived before check-in time so no one answered the door when I rang the doorbell. I was sitting outside, searching up somewhere to hang out, when someone opened the door to leave, so I asked if I could go up. I was able to drop off my stuff, pay, and they got my bed ready within 15 minutes. I ate my sushi at the hostel and then decided to do some more touristy stuff since I didn’t get a huge chance to before. Plus it was pretty much the only day that I’d be spending IN Taipei for the next three nights. I started by taking the metro to the Ximen area, which is a huge (and busy!) shopping area. I went to the Red House, which is a famous theatre, but it was closed.
walked down some of the streets, but it was really busy and it wasn’t really my thing, so I continued walking to the Bo-Pi-Liao Heritage Street, but it was also closed. I guess Mondays aren’t a good day to be a tourist… I went to Longshan Temple, where there were a bunch of people taking turns to do their three bows and place their incense sticks. There were people along the edges of the temple who all had hymn books, and they were singing along to the music, which was really quite beautiful – I always find it very moving to be a part of something like that.
After walking around the temple, I made my way back towards Ximen, and walked through a couple of night markets on the way. I found a park, which ended up being somewhere people would bring their dogs to run off-leash. I sat for quite awhile and people/dog-watched before going to a restaurant that serves all-day breakfast called What Day Kitchen. Apparently, it’s really popular in the mornings, so I was glad to be able to find a few empty tables in the evening (although it was completely full by the time I left). They gave me a Mandarin menu and then a photo book with English, but the two didn’t really match up so I wasn’t exactly sure how to order what I wanted. I decided to go for fried chicken with eggs, portobello mushrooms, a salad (with thousand island dressing!), some French bread with blueberry cream cheese, and a milk tea – all for 115TWD ($5.11)!
7pm hit, there was a huge crowd of people behind me. They had a massive pig in the middle of the intersection and at 7, it played a bunch of music, danced, and changed colours for about three minutes.
them an official lantern, and one lantern can be shared between four people. Six people from the group were planning to go before 10am so that they could get vouchers for the group, and then the rest of the group was going to head over at 3:30. The event didn’t start until 5pm, but I decided to go a bit earlier and spend the day there. I left at about 10:30, got to the main station and asked for a ticket to Ruifang, which cost me 49TWD ($2.18). I read that there would be shuttle buses from Ruifang to Shifen (where the festival was taking place). My train left at 11:18 so I ended up having to wait for 20-30 minutes, and then I arrived in Ruifang about an hour later. When we got there, it was another big crowd of people and they were directing us to a table selling train tickets to Shifen. They said that the tickets would be 80TWD and that the next bus wasn’t until 12:59 (aka another 45 minutes of waiting). I was a bit confused and asked about the shuttle and they said, “No shuttle.” I said that I’d come back and walked outside the station, where there was a shuttle bus sitting there waiting. Imagine that! I paid 30THB/$1.37 (the return ticket is free!), got a seat on the bus, and it left within five minutes. About 30 minutes later, the bus stopped on the side of the highway and they said we had to walk into town, which was still a 20 minute walk! However, it was downhill on a quiet lane and it was actually quite enjoyable.
stand that I had read about and it debones a drumstick and replaces the bone with rice.
way across a couple of suspension bridges and then there were a few viewpoints to look at the falls. It was quite busy (especially on the day of an internationally-known festival!), so I had to wait awhile in order to take my own selfie after all of the other selfie-takers took their turns.
lot of the park was covered with fallen lanterns. After I finished my time at the waterfall, I decided to check out the 
Couchsurfing whatsapp group to see what everyone else was up to. There was another girl who had just
arrived in Shifen and asked where the group was, but no one was replying. I wrote her and said that I was also in Shifen, so we decided to meet up. She headed towards the waterfall because it would close at 4:30 so I sat at a table and enjoyed a lemon drink. Yaritza (Yari) showed up about 20 minutes later. She’s from Chicago and is doing a one-
month trip away from work. We chatted for awhile, walked back to the waterfall, and then headed back to where the main event was supposed to take place. People were already gathered around the stage area, queuing for their lanterns (and it was only 4pm!). We wrote the group, who pinned us their location so we could meet up with them. One of the girls (Val) had gotten to the voucher counter later than the rest of the
group (10:30), so her voucher was for the first set of lanterns at 5pm (the rest of the group would be at 6:30). There was also a larger group of people on their way to Shifen, so the chances of all of us being able to use the vouchers was slim. Val wanted to get rid of her voucher because it would still be light when the lanterns were released, so she was about to give the voucher to a stranger. I cut in and said that I’d still go, just for the experience, and Yari said she’d come too. It was 4:40 at that time, so we walked the way that we came and got there right before 5. The organisation of this event was
spectacular! They led us into a large area where there were people with signs numbered 1 to 14. They told us to choose a line, and there were probably about ten vouchers per line, so at least 140 lanterns per release (they performed a release about every 20 minutes). While we were waiting to go into the main area, a lady from Formosa News (an English television channel in Taiwan) came up to me and asked if she could do an interview, so I did. She said that I’d be on channel 53 that night, but I had no way of watching 🙁 We finally started leaving the area that we were in to go to the main stage area. We had to wait there for awhile and then finally, we were let into the main area.
It was full of people wearing purple, so they told each voucher-holder to go to a different person. We had to wait again (I think it took so long because we were the first ones, so they 
were building it up and explaining everything). Finally, they handed out the lanterns and then gave us markers to write wishes with. We decided to write a different wish on each side – love, peace, health, and safe travels. We had a full song to decorate our lanterns so we finished quite fast, and we looked around and saw that some people had completely filled their lanterns with beautiful mandarin symbols (any lanterns written using the regular alphabet really didn’t look that nice!).
could fill up with heat. You could really feel the heat of the fire – it was intense! 
A couple lanterns 
unfortunately caught fire and flew up into ashes. They counted down and we all let go of our lanterns, which was a beautiful sight!
We were ushered back out after our helper asked if she could take a picture with us. By that time, it was 5:50 so the whole process took at least an hour. Getting out was so much more crowded because there were a bunch of people trying to get in as well.
the right time. I wasn’t too sure whether I should go because when I looked at the weather, it was supposed to be sunny in Taipei (which hasn’t really happened during my time there), and it was supposed to rain in Wulai. I decided to just risk it since I didn’t want to regret not going. I had to take a metro to the end of one of the lines, at Xindian Station and by the time I got there, it was just after noon so I found a KFC to get a burger combo. I then had to wait about ten minutes for the bus, #849, to take me to Wulai. The bus ride only took a half hour so I arrived in Wulai just after 1pm and at that point, it was still sunny. I walked into the Old Town and saw a bunch of food stalls set up.
– the waterfall side and then the old town with all of the hot springs. Now in the Old Town, you can rent a room and sit in a bathtub full of hot spring water for 100TWD ($4.57) per hour. However, that didn’t really peak my interest because when I think of a hot spring, I usually think outside in nature. Anyway, back in the day, people used to have log carts just as now we have cars – they’d have to use them to get into town to get their groceries or whatever else they’d need. I decided I might as well go for a ride, and I paid 50TWD ($2.22) for a 5-minute ride to the waterfall.
came out of a museum and asked if he could help me with anything. I replied that I was looking for anywhere to go hiking, and he told me to walk along the highway until I found a bridge, cross it, and there would be some “water for me to play in.” Well, I’m not sure I wanted to play in any water, but I took his advice and headed for the bridge, even though the skies were starting to look a bit dark. There was one point when I had to go through a narrow car tunnel, where there wasn’t any space designated for pedestrians, so I had to walk through quickly and hope that any cars that came through would swerve out of the way.
bottom and stopped at the Wulai Atayal Museum, which had different artefacts from the indigenous people who lived there. I then went back to the bus station and waited for the bus.
decided to take the bus 936/937 to Linkou Station (which is where Liah lives) and then transfer onto the metro there because the bus tended to be a lot quicker. However, I’ll save my journey to Kuala Lumpur for another post. I really enjoyed my time in Taiwan! The people are so friendly and hospitable, it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold, and there was so much green everywhere! Plus the food was great! Everyone I talked to would say, “Wow, three weeks in Taiwan?! How are you going to spend three weeks there?” But I didn’t even feel like three weeks was enough time – there’s still so much that I didn’t have time to explore! I guess I’ll have to save it for next time… Love always
My second time in Tainan was just as good as the first, but this time I got to spend longer than just one night. I left my hostel in Kaohsiung at check-out time (12pm) with a guy who I had met at breakfast (Krister from California). We took the MRT to the main station and then stood in line to get tickets to go to Tainan. The ticket only cost 68TWD ($3.02AUD) but what I didn’t realise was that I could have
swiped my Easycard for even cheaper (which Krister did), although it wouldn’t guarantee me a seat. However, the train was quite quiet so Krister and I both got to sit down. The ride to Tainan took just over an hour so I arrived just after 2pm. After hotspotting Krister so that he could figure out where his hostel was, we said our goodbyes and I started the 30-minute walk to my cousin’s school. Mike and Sandy 
weren’t going to finish work until about 9pm so I was planning to drop off my bags and keep myself entertained until they finished working. About halfway through my walk, I saw a soup dumpling (xiaolongbao) restaurant called 郭記蒸好味湯包 and I realised how hungry I was, since I had only eaten a couple pieces of toast that day. I decided to sit down and have a late lunch… 8 dumplings only cost me 55TWD ($2.44)!
are done right. Now that I’m somewhat of a connoisseur (haha), I can tell you that anything from the thickness of the dough, the flavour of broth and meat, and whether there’s actually broth IN the dumpling will have a massive effect on the outcome of the dumpling. This restaurant wasn’t the best, but it also wasn’t the worst (and at least it was an actual SOUP dumpling – many places don’t put any broth inside, or the dough breaks and all of the
broth leaks out 🙁). Anyway, I arrived at the school right at 3, which was conveniently when Mike had a two-hour break. The kids had done a science experiment that day (making lemonade), so they had a bunch of fresh lemonade leftover, which I got to enjoy. The kids were also very curious – many would look over and wonder who I was, some would say hello, and some would ask Mike or Sandy who I was – they were pretty sweet though! Mike and I walked to the nearby shopping centre so that he could get something to eat, and then we picked up some breakfast stuff for the next day. We went back to the school, then Sandy and her coworkers suggested some places that I could check out for the next couple of hours. Luckily, Sandy was finished work at 7:30 so I didn’t have to keep myself entertained for too long. Everyone was so helpful with printing off metro maps, showing directions of where to go, and Mike even helped me look for flights to prove that I’d be leaving Thailand (I’ll get to that in another post). I decided to start my time by walking to the Confucius Temple, which was less than 15 minutes away. Unfortunately, it was undergoing renovation so I didn’t get to see much. One of the workers let me come through the barrier to take a couple of pictures. There was even a bride doing a photo shoot, which was nice to see!
to learn how to barbecue like that! We then ordered an avocado milk smoothie, which was different but good. Then we got a beef soup, where they get the freshest beef (likely killed that day), put the raw slices in a bowl, and pour some extremely hot broth on top. The broth completely cooks the beef! However, as with basically everything in Taiwan, it’s difficult to eat anything without burning your mouth. You either have to wait for awhile for everything to cool, or just grin and bear it. Even the lids on their coffees say: “Caution, contents 120 degrees,” which seems overly hot. We got some stinky tofu (for my second time) and then sat down to eat all of our treasures, which were all so tasty!
9pm. Sandy was up when I got up, so I had some of the cinnamon buns that we had bought the day before, and then she drove me to Anping, which is a historical part of the city. I started by going to Fort Zeelandia (which is coincidentally the same name as the small town of Zealandia near my hometown), which cost 50TWD ($2.22) to enter. Honestly, I wasn’t too interested in the fort or the ruins (which isn’t any different from other ruins I look at). I didn’t spend too much time here and continued to the Tree House, which is a house built within and amongst a bunch of trees. This was definitely more my thing, and I was fascinated by how cool the structure looked.
There, it was the same cost to enter (50TWD) and when I entered, I met another Canadian named Andrew (from Toronto). We walked around the Tree House and then decided to check out the Old Town of Anping. We walked by the cutest ice cream stand (which had a huge line), and when I saw the ice cream cones it made, I had to buy one. The name of the ice cream cones that we got were literally called “Cute Ice Cream Cones,” and we got to choose from an assortment of animals. I chose a pig and Andrew chose a bear, and it cost us 70TWD ($3.11) each, which was definitely worth it!
Not only did they look nice, but they also tasted delicious on such a hot day. We continued walking through the Old Town, and then walked towards the central part of Tainan. We stopped at a famous shrimp roll restaurant called 周氏蝦捲 (Choi’s Shrimp Rolls), which obviously also had a huge line. I got two deep-fried shrimp rolls for 65TWD ($2.89).
outdoor store) because it’s my favourite store, and offers so many products at a good price. Andrew and I walked for about an hour together and then parted ways when I had to turn to go to Decathlon. My plan was to get some type of knee brace since my knees have been hurting lately. I got a compression band for each knee, for 199TWD each ($9.03), but I somehow walked out spending 1543TWD ($68.58)! I ended up buying a “few” new things such as some hiking sandals, a hat, a shirt, and a waterproof phone case – I just can’t resist when I’m at this store, I love it! I then walked back down into central Tainan to look at Chin-Men Theatre. Why? Because it’s one of the only cinemas (if not THE only cinema) that actually paints their movie posters. Master Yan Zhenfa spends his time painting these beautiful posters, which look so realistic. I was even lucky enough to catch him across the street painting the movie schedule, so I snuck in a cheeky picture.
lines of the furniture. It was definitely creative! I then walked down the little streets of shops, which had some other artwork hidden all over the place.
we followed suit, waited until 9:30, and then watched the fireworks from there. We headed back home and of course, Mike and Sandy were starving. It was funny because Mike made his own Western-style meal of a turkey version of beef dip, and Sandy made her own Taiwanese-style meal of ramen noodles and fish sausages. I had both, which was a delicious mix, and I was so full afterwards!
finally have a full American breakfast after such a long time. That day, we took the car and drove to the Maolin District, to a little Indigenous (Rukai) village called Duona. It probably took about 2-3 hours to drive, but the time went by so fast because the scenery was beautiful to look at. We walked around the village, checked out the elementary school, and walked up and down the streets, which were filled with their traditional slate-slab houses.
everything really welcoming. We found a little restaurant at about 4pm and decided to get some food, but what was suggested as a “light snack” again ended up being so much! We had some barbecued pork and sausage, sweet potato, a dragon whisker dish (which was new for me), and some bamboo rice.
to the beginning. However, I was also a bit relieved and was looking forward to getting settled again. I had a great time in Tainan, and I’m sure I’ll be there again! Love always
Kaohsiung (pronounced Gow-Sung) was another one of those nice cities with good vibes, so I instantly liked it as soon as I arrived. I had to leave my hostel in Taitung at about 8:45 on Wednesday morning so that I could catch the #8172 bus from the bus station to the train station. I arrived at the 
train station at about 9:30 so I had enough time to get a coffee before catching my 10:08 train, which would take three hours and cost me 351TWD ($15.60AUD). I arrived in Kaohsiung just after 1pm and had to get to my hostel, which was close to the Formosa Boulevard station. Little did I know, this station was actually a tourist attraction because it has the “Dome of Light,” which is a huge stained glass ceiling, which also does a light show a few times each day. The stained glass really beautiful!
broth had such a nice flavour. For the meal, it cost me 110TWD ($4.89). I then walked towards Pier 2 Art Center, which is basically what the name describes – a pier that’s full of different art work. It also had many shops so I checked a few out and walked down the pier.
Conveniently, I was less than a ten-minute walk away from one of the night markets (Liuhe Night Market) and even though it’s not supposed to be as good as some of the others, I decided to still check it out. There’s a famous stand that sells papaya milk so of course, I had to go try some. The man working there is so friendly and as soon as he saw me in the lineup of tourists, he gave out a cheerful, “Hello!” The papaya milk cost me 60TWD ($2.67), which is quite a bit higher for night market standards, but the tourists still keep coming! After walking down the short two blocks of the Liuhe Night Market, I walked about 30 minutes all the way down towards Central Park, where there’s another night market with shops nearby.
couldn’t find anything that I wanted to eat. I’m not sick of the food here (I love it!), but I’m slowly getting sick of not knowing what everything is and not knowing what my options are when ordering food. Out of the countries on this trip so far, Taiwan has definitely been the most difficult in terms of available English translations, which is bizarre because it’s also the most modern-feeling country. I walked back to my hostel and nearly everything was closed since it was after 9:30. However, I noticed a bunch of people sitting outside
nearby and saw that there was a 24/7 restaurant called 老江紅茶牛奶 (Lao Chiang). It’s known for its milk tea but I figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to have a bunch of tea before bed so I just ordered a pork floss & egg sandwich, which was actually amazing! I headed back to the hostel and went to bed.
to catch a bus to the Monastery. The bus E02 only left about once every hour, so I timed it just right. I arrived on the grounds just before 1pm and got something to eat for lunch, which ended up being a Taiwanese tortilla for 35TWD ($1.56). Then, I decided to check out the Big Buddha and eight pagodas area. The Big Buddha is the tallest seated bronze Buddha in the world, and is 108 metres tall.
monastery. It was good timing too, because I arrived during classes and I saw a large group of (what I assume were) monks-in-training slowly walking down a hill two-by-two while balancing bowls on their heads. They were all wearing darker coloured robes, and there were about four actual monks wearing the traditional lighter robes who seemed to be guiding them. Out of respect, I just stood still and watched, so I didn’t happen to get any photos of them. I continued walking and found one of the shrines, where I also wasn’t allowed to 
take any pictures. A lady gave me a flower and I wasn’t too sure what to do with it. She showed me to take it with both hands, bow down to the shrine, and place the flower with the other ones 
on the shrine. I did what she said and then continued on my walk. I finally found Great Buddha Land, which I had been trying to find but due to the lack of English signs, I never knew if I was going in the right direction or not. There were hundreds of Buddha statues in this area and it was so peaceful – I only ever saw two other people there at one time.
back. I made a few stops along the way to get some more pictures, as the beauty of this place was overwhelming!
everyone boarded and when I was the third person in line, they said that there wasn’t anymore space. The next bus wasn’t for another hour and a half until after 5pm! I did some research (because I didn’t really want to wait around for an hour and a half) and saw that there were some non-direct buses that would still go into Kaohsiung (they’d just take longer). However, all of the buses that arrived were written in Mandarin so I couldn’t tell which direction they were going. I went on the next two that arrived and asked “Kaohsiung,” but the drivers shook their heads. I noticed some people waiting at the 8501 bus stop and when I looked it up, I saw that it would be going where I wanted. It would arrive in about 15 minutes, so I switched lines (and basically everyone else followed suit). I’m glad I did because once again, the bus completely filled up when it arrived. I got back to the
Zuoying station just before 5:30 and by that point, I was starving. I was planning to go to the Ruifang night market later that night, so I just went to McDonalds and got some fries and a McFlurry for 97TWD ($4.31). Up until this point, I’ve managed to spend my entire time in Taiwan without going to an American-style fast-food restaurant so I did pretty well! I went back to my hostel to relax for a bit before going to the night market. My dad’s best friend had invited me into a group chat on Facebook with a guy who also had roots from Saskatchewan (and more specifically from Kamsack, where my dad is from). Apparently, our dads used to hang out when they were younger and since 
we were both in Taiwan, my dad’s friend suggested that we meet up. Tyler and I made plans to meet when he finished work (at 8pm) and go to the Ruifeng Night Market. Tyler had been teaching in Kaohsiung for the past 11 years, and was only five years older than me. Even though neither of us had heard about each other’s dads, it was still nice to meet up with someone from home. We walked around the night market for a bit, where I got some soup dumplings (60TWD/$2.67) and tried stinky tofu for the first time!
Honestly, I liked it – you don’t even smell it while you’re eating it because the smell already hits you by the time you get to the stand. I then tried a crepe-like dessert, which was filled with sesame seeds and was so good! Tyler and I met up with his flatmate, Christine, who had an extra bike helmet that I was able to borrow. She was meeting up with some of her friends, so she bought a bunch of flowers and gave each of us one for Valentine’s Day. We then picked up some bubble teas (I got a grapefruit one, which was delicious!) before getting on the motorbike to go to our next destination.
hold on to the motorbike with one hand – not bad for my third time! We went to Shoushan mountain, where there’s a viewpoint overlooking the city. Forgetting that it was Valentine’s Day, we realised that we were surrounded by tons of couples and had a saxophone busker, whose music travelled throughout the valley. We chatted for quite a bit and then Tyler drove me back to my hostel.
hostel. There was an older man named Henry who was from Taipei, and he came up to me and said, “Your face look like movie star,” which was honestly such a nice thing to say first thing in the morning when I hadn’t even had my coffee yet. Henry introduced me to a guy from California named Krister who was also planning to go to Tainan that day. We chatted until checkout time and then we both left for Tainan, which I’ll save for another post. Love always!
Prairie Girl Abroad 